Forlorn Hope
by Royal Peregrine
Summary: An uncontrollable lust for power, a secret left hidden and a move blinded by rage... events that sealed everyone's fate. Now, nearly two decades later, two souls begin a journey, venturing into the world that has been shattered by Abyssal madness. (SI)
1. Brave New World

_Forlorn Hope – a group of soldiers assigned to perform a highly deadly/dangerous task where the risk of casualties is high_

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Every once in a while, everyone has that kind of a morning when it feels like there are jackhammers drilling into your head and you just know the day is gonna be shit. You probably know how that feels, especially if you've been drinking heavily the night before. Why the hell didn't I leave the party early? Oh right... I had jumped in with one of my friends and his gang like some bloody paratrooper and begged him to drive me home because I was a lazy bastard who didn't want to catch the last bus ride. Wait a moment, wasn't he also drinking, rather heavily in fact? It's kinda fuzzy but whatever, I guess I got home somehow.

Ugh, my mouth felt like I swallowed a fistful of sand. I blearily opened my eyes and waited for vertigo to become bearable and my vision to settle in.

The fuck?

You know how on some parties there is some poor sap who falls asleep and people around him start playing Jenga by stacking whatever junk they find on top of the guy and get a few laughs once the sucker wakes up? Yeah, that was me right now, but instead of pillows, plates, bottles and other miscellaneous shit there was half a dozen steel girders and a bunch of planks and half smashed crates.

It took me embarrassingly long to gather a coherent thought and actually notice that I didn't feel neither pain nor discomfort under this mountain of crap. I seriously doubted I had somehow spontaneously manifested superpowers, Marvel style, no matter how awesome that would have been. The two options I was going with was either I was dreaming or tripping. Probably both as my gut was telling me that I had been particularly stupid yesterday. That usually comes with heavy drinking. Well, if I was high or something then I should be able to move the entire pile off of me as I was likely hallucinating and all of it probably didn't exist. Few pushes and grunts later and I had successfully extracted myself from underneath the pile of metal and wood which all crashed with a series of loud clangs, engulfing the area in a cloud of dust. As a coughing fit overtook me, I started mentally congratulating myself for proving my hypothesis while wiping the dust and grime off my clothes.

Few swipes later and I grinded to a halt as I've noticed that some things weren't proportioned as they should be. I looked down and oh boy, those were some man-boobs.

What the fuck brain?!

And why is it so drafty down there?

Is that a fucking skirt?!

WHAT. THE. FLYING. FUCK?!

I'm some fucking twisted individual if I'm imagining all of this!

My imminent mental meltdown was interrupted as I felt something squirming in the pocket above my left breast. Forestalling my mental breakdown for a few precious moments, I took the presented lifeline and thrust my hand inside the pocket. After few seconds of struggling to get a grip on the squishy thing, I yanked it outside. Moments later, I felt my jaw hitting the ground as my mind instantly blue screened. Dangling upside down, as I was holding it by one of the legs, was a trashing figurine. And it was squawking things at me! I could do nothing but stare blankly as the little man got more and more angry. Was that steam literally coming out of his ears?!

After my brain finished rebooting, some things were starting to click into place and the implications were worrying. Once I got the picture that this could be one of those navy games with girls as ships it was time for full denial.

NOPE. Nope, nope, nope, I'm not having any of this. I threw the fuming little man back into the pocket and started pinching myself.

Time for a wakeup call!

I'm not, ouch, having any, ouch, of this crap, OUCH, anymore. Oh come on, wake up! Why isn't this shit working?!

Abandoning the pinching approach, I started frantically looking around the broken-down warehouse for anything that would help me with some self-harm. Moments later my view settled on pieces of broken glass sticking out of the snow. I snatched one jagged piece, not even registering that I could feel the cold of the snow, and in one swift moment raked the sharp object across my forearm.

I screamed like the little girl I was as blood started gushing out of the wound. Holy shit, did it hurt! I buried my forearm into the closest glass free snow, slowly painting it red as I struggled to keep in another scream. No way. No way! This can't be happening! The mantra was on repeat in my head as I greedily kept sucking in the chilly air.

After a minute of being a hyperventilating mess, it slowly started dawning to me that no, I wasn't waking up or going anywhere and that I was stuck, and bleeding, in a warehouse who knows where. And slowly, that was starting to make me pissed. I mean, really pissed. I'm not the kind of guy that gets angry easily. Most of the time I grumble a bit but stay quiet not wanting to escalate things further. However, push the right buttons or keep tilting me and be ready for me to scream your face off or deck you. As there was a severe lack of punchable faces, it was time for throat exercises. I got up, flicked the little man, who for some reason was again gibbering things at me, back into the pocket, marched my way towards the doors and knocked them of the hinges in one swift kick. Once outside, I looked up at the cloudy sky and with my fists clenched, started my litany of fury.

"Fuuuuuuuck yoouuuuuu! You massive fucking cunt! Whoever or whatever piece of shit dropped me here, fuck you! I will fucking find you and I will strangle you with your own fucking intestines! I don't care if you are God or something else, I will murder you! I just got my life in fucking order! And what do you do?! Fucking throw me in another universe! Fuuuuck! Arrrghhh!", I smashed my fist into a concrete pillar, taking a chunk out of it and continued venting myself to the uncaring grey sky. After a few minutes of profanities in at least three languages, including some proto-slavic variant, I dropped on my knees, feeling like someone had drained the life out of me.

I thought I was going to start crying, yet the tears weren't coming. Maybe it was because the anger numbed me or my mind was running some last second denial scenarios in the background, but I simply kept staring into the gently bending sea surface like a doll. Lifeless green eyes observed me in turn, partly obstructed by messy blonde hair. The image on the surface looked like a sixteen-year-old girl in a ruffled navy-blue uniform with a cavalry saber attached to the hip and a red dragon etched on her left arm. I'm not sure how long I sat there in a trance although however long it was, it didn't prepare me for what I had seen later.

I come from a country that had seen war relatively recently. Take a thirty-minute drive from most lager towns and you will find plenty of scars on buildings and people, or if you've gone walking in the countryside and are particularly unlucky, minefields. Maybe that is why I thought that no picture of devastation could shock me, yet this place… it was like something scooped up the entire bay, put everything into a giant blender, powered it on for a second or two, just enough before everything turned into paste and poured the contents out.

Over a dozen of ships were scattered across the bay and every single one of them could be classified as a wreck and completely written off. Some of them only had the upper portions or even just masts sticking out of the water while others were capsized, listing over sixty degrees to one of the sides. I could spot out what looked like a warship among the wrecks with a single banged up turret on the prow and a row of empty cylindrical missile tubes. To the side of the warship, a nearby dry dock was occupied but whatever was sitting there was an indistinguishable mess. Buried under the deformed and twisted mess of several dockyard cranes, now it was all just a heap of rusted metal.

I walked up onto the road going through the port, noticing that it was dotted with vehicles, but if they had been operational once, they most definitely weren't now. A few of them looked abandoned and left to the elements while a vast majority were nothing more than charred and burnt out lumps of metal. The buildings themselves were probably the biggest evidence to the devastation that visited this place. I couldn't find a single one that didn't have some part of it collapsed. The entirety of place looked as if someone thoroughly bombed the place making sure to cause as much destruction as possible.

What the hell happened here?

I could taste the lump in my throat and my heart felt like it was trying to rip itself out of my chest. To say that after five minutes I was scared shitless was an understatement. Naturally that was the perfect moment for something to scare the bejesus out of me as a blur of white and brown crashed out of a nearby building. I would like to state that I had screamed only a little.

The speeding object promptly slipped on a nearby ice patch and planted itself, nose first, into the asphalt. Once I realized that was actually a human, I gripped my right hand to stop it from shaking further and released a breath I wasn't even aware I was holding. So, we are having jump scares now? For fucks sake…

After making sure I wouldn't drop dead from a heart attack, I moved up to see if the fallen girl was okay. Thankfully she looked uninjured, the nose looked a bit swollen, but there was no blood anywhere so I guessed everything was fine. Also, that had definitely confirmed she was a shipgirl because you don't get up from that kind of fall without breaking something. Noticing my approach, the short girl gave me an energetic wave and started rapid firing words in what I could only assume was Japanese.

Of bloody course… why would it be simple? I sighed internally before answering, "I don't understand a word of that, English maybe?"

The girl froze for a moment, tilting her head to the side in confusion like a little puppy that was not quite sure if he was a good boy or not. Suppressing a giggle from an adorable scene in front of me, I continued, "Sprichst du Deutsch? Parlez-Vous Francais?"

And that shake is a negative…eh, it was a long-shot anyway.

Okay, thinking time. How do you talk with someone who can't understand a thing you are saying? We could always try some weird-ass pantomimes… but yeah, that was not going to be a long-term solution. Hmm, I knew some ASL sings, perhaps that could be a solution? I glanced back at my companion who was sheepishly standing aside and watching me pace around.

Nah, it wasn't going to work. My knowledge was limited to maybe a few dozen basic signs and I kind of doubted she knew any. Sorry if I was doubting you kid, just thinking we needed something better. The ideal solution would be to acquire some kind of a common alphabet. Of course, the Morse code! Wait… I smacked myself in the head. Idiot, even if you had sent messages in Morse code they would still be in English. And now I was arguing with myself and was probably looking like a lunatic. Fantastic.

Okay, enough of this crap, I required help. I was a ship now and that meant that there was probably someone on board of me, God that had sounded weird, that could come up with a solution. First, to summon a rigging… did I need to say something or willpower it into existence? Oh, it was on… neat. Not a moment later I became aware of every single member of my crew, from the grumpy captain bellowing orders all the way to the steward's assistant who lied about his enlistment and was moments ago peeling potatoes in the galley. All 220 of them.

Listen up!

I said quiet turret No. 5!

We have a problem and I heard the navy has the brightest and best in-

Stop snickering back there, I'm trying to motivate you!

Okay, just for that you are going overboard. A tiny figurine was thrown out of the hatch on my rigging and was now dangling off a minuscule railing.

Nobody get him, this is a lesson. Now, where was I? Right, we need to open a comm- Oh for fuck sake, stop interrupting me!

She is what? Ohhh…

While I was in a shouting match with the crew, my companion took the initiative and was now standing in front of me with an outstretched palm and her rigging out. There was a small blue and yellow flag on her rigging which, as I was informed by my observers, meant that she wished to communicate with me. Also standing on her palm was a picture-perfect officer in pressed uniform holding a sharp salute.

Brownie points for the starboard observers.

You will get them later! Shush now…

Hmm, so should I take one of my officers out, maybe the little guys can understand each other? The other girl kept nudging her hand forward and gesturing between me and the little officer with the other.

You want me to take him? Let's see… I extended my hand. Huh, the little guy jumped over. I guess you want to come aboard, a translator perhaps? Probably should drop you somewhere on the bridge. And gently with no manhandling, don't want to cause an incident now. I dropped the guy off on my rigging and he in turn gave me a deep bow and entered inside. Some proper fella.

The girl started speaking again and I picked up that she was slowly repeating the same phrase over an over but nothing was happening. Just as I was about to give up and wave everything off, the incomprehensible words turned into a heavily accented question. I cracked a laugh. "Yeah, I can understand you now." confirming it with a couple of nods. It took a few seconds for my answer to reach her and when it did, she bounced in the air and gave me the biggest smile I've seen in a long time.

This was an amazing piece of quick problem solving. Fucking A plus work kid. Sure, it was like talking with a few seconds of lag and the English was heavily accented, but those were minor kinks we could iron out in time. For now, the most important thing was that we could talk to each other.

"That was some fine thinking, great work. Guessing your guy is sitting in my radio room translating everything?"

"Yes, and it's nothing, desu," she answered with a slight twinge of red in her cheeks.

"Hey, no need to be shy now. Seriously, amazing work," I flashed her a thumbs up. It only made her flare up more. It was followed by a few seconds of silence after which she decided to steer away the attention from herself by asking: "Does it hurt, desu?" and pointed at my right hand.

"Oh that…" I started, remembering my slashed arm. "Don't worry about it," I tried deflecting it.

"Wounds are a serious thing desu!"

Aww, was that a pout? "Look, don't wor—AAAAAAAAA!" I clenched my teeth and held back the rest of the scream as a horrible burning sensation spread through my arm. Before I realized what was going on, she had already finished disinfecting my wound and was in the process of bandaging it.

"Open wounds are dangerous and should be properly treated!" I was being chided by a ten-year-old, wow.

"I will try to keep that in mind."

"Hmph!" Finishing the conversation with a sharp nod, she continued working on my arm.

I didn't know from where she had pulled out the first aid kit or how she knew how to perform basic wound treatment, but it was freaking me out a bit. In addition to solving our communication problem, she was one terrifyingly competent kid. Then again, she was a warship from one of the bloodiest periods of human history molded into a human form. Still, getting my shit fixed up by someone who looked like an elementary schooler and whose main problems in life were probably homework and missing out an episode of a favorite cartoon was seriously weirding me out!

Bloody hell, I was going to pop a vent! Better start talking about something because this was making my brain go on the fritz.

"So, um… you are Japanease? Did I get that right?"

"Yes, I am special destroyer Inazuma of the Akatsuki class! And you desu? What is your name?"

"Actually, I have no idea," I shrugged my shoulders. Good question though as I've completely forgotten to check. Guessing right now on the spot, I'd say I was some kind of a destroyer.

Inazuma stopped bandaging me for a moment and gave me a worried look. "You don't know? That is horrible desu! Did you maybe hit your head and forgot?"

"I woke up under some heavy things so it could have happened," I lied through my teeth.

"Not even the…" she got a distant look in her eyes. "War?"

"Nothing, it's all blank."

"So you don't remember your family… I'm sorry desu."

I remember them all too well and that was the problem! Fuck… this conversation was opening a can of worms I really wished remained sealed for some time because this really wasn't the time or place to break down in tears. C'mon, stay strong man, deep breaths.

Despite shaking like a leaf on the inside, I put my good hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure I will find them and things will turn out fine. And I bet you have sisters too and worry about them. We'll find them too."

She didn't look convinced, "You think desu?" she answered while glancing at the scenery around us. "When I… sank, I had a wish. I had hoped to wake again in a world with no war, destruction… somewhere nice with my sisters. But this place… I'm scared desu."

You are crushing my hearth kid, nobody should have a look like that. Without much thinking I grabbed her in a tight hug. "Please don't lose hope. That is the one thing nobody can take away from you. Let that torch burn bright and it will help you when things look bleak. Have faith in us and I'm sure we will find them." I wasn't quite sure which one of us was I meant to be reassuring with those words.

"Do you promise desu?"

And there it was… one of my personal rules was to never give a promise if I wasn't absolutely certain I could keep it and this was exactly one of those not sure situations, yet looking at it all, I didn't have the heart to say no. Finally, I answered, "I promise." while releasing her from my grip.

She looked me directly in the eyes, weighting my words. For a moment I thought she would reject it all and call me a liar. Instead she gave me one of those small innocent smiles that just make your day that much brighter. It was a silent thank you.

"Now," I started, ruffling her hair in the process, "let's go scour this place, maybe we'll find out where we are."

"Hey, not so fast! I'm not finished with bandaging you!" She exclaimed with a furrowed brow, placing hands on her hips. "Are you avoiding it desu? Is it because you are afraid of blood or doctors?"

That gave me a hearty laugh, "No, no, no, please finish it," I motioned forward my injured arm, "then we can sort out something from this mess."

Inazuma continued working with a hum.

"Oh, and I will call you Dragon desu."

"Um, Dragon? You sure that says me?" I gestured at myself with my good hand.

"You have a cute dragon tattoo and I like it. That means you are Dragon desu!"

I mulled it over a bit in my head and shrugged in the end, "Okay, Dragon it is." With an agreement reached, Inazuma continued fixing up my arm after which we went on our little treasure hunt.

What followed was pretty much several hours of spelunking through a ruined port. We were searching for any kind of a sign, street post, map or preferably a person that could clue us in on where the hell we were. Unfortunately, alongside us and a couple of birds we saw while rummaging through the area, there wasn't a single living thing to be found. The closest we found to a human were a few skeletal remains, I do hope those images won't haunt either of us, which were partially buried under the rubble. Given the state those poor sobs were in, literally piles of bones, meant that whatever happened to this place, it had happened a long time ago. I wasn't certain whether that was reassuring or not.

Thankfully Inazuma made a breakthrough close to the evening when she found a filling cabinet and a ledger containing maps and documents that weren't completely destroyed by the weather. Also, not being an idiot like some people I knew, she called me over when she couldn't understand a thing that was written in them. Why, because everything was written in Cyrillic. Finally, this was where I came in, actually being useful for once this day.

Twenty minutes later and I had our location. The translating and sifting through the notes were the easy parts and actually took me a few minutes at most, despite me not being Russian and having taught Cyrillic myself. When you know one Slavic language you can kinda understood the rest of them. What the actual problem was, was that it had gotten dark and I couldn't see shit without light. When I tried turning on my searchlights, the bloody things wouldn't work and my crew had absolutely no idea how to fix them. If that was the representation of my damage control, I was screwed six ways till Sunday. In the end, Inazuma had provided the light. Couldn't do even one thing myself, ugh, what a confidence boost.

We decided to return down to the pier. I knelt on the ground and unfolded one of the maps we had found. "We are here," I picked up a pebble and placed it on the map, "Sevastopol." I looked at Inazuma. "I garner we have two options. Option one is we stay here and hope we encounter some passerby's or maybe pick up some broadcasts on the radio. Option number two is we pick a direction or another port and we sail there. Thoughts?"

Inazuma looked pensive for a bit before answering, "I don't feel like we should stay here desu, I don't like this place."

"I agree with you on that, this place gives me some bad vibes and I doubt anyone is coming. That just leaves us with a destination," I left the sentence hang in the air.

"Um…" She was wringing her fingers, looking reluctant to put anything forward.

"No wrong answers here, I'm simply fishing for suggestions."

"Then, hmm…" she picked up another pebble and after observing the map for a few more seconds, placed it on the edge of the map.

I shouldn't have been surprised by that, giving a small chuckle before answering, "You do realize that is almost on the other side of the world?" She only gave a tiny nod to that. "Was looking more for some place that was a bit closer, but let's keep Japan as sort of an ultimate destination."

"You are okay with it, desu?"

"Well, it's not like I know where I'm from, so why the hell not," I countered before turning my attention back to the map. Where to go? Preferably I'd like to find someone who knew what was going on because you don't just raze a major Russian port without consequences. The only two explanations I've had so far was that either world war three had happened or an Abyssal surface force wrecked the place. Right now, it was hard to tell which of the two was more terrifying. Deciding that was a mystery to be answered later, I turned back on our problem and came up with some sort of a plan.

"How about this, I would like some questions answered and that means finding people or other ships like us. The best way to do that would probably be going along the coast and hitting up major coastal towns like Odessa, Constanta and Varna," I pointed the mentioned places on the map. "However, I feel that it could be a bit of a detour since we can achieve the same result if we went straight for the Bosporus. It is one of the busiest straits in the world and Istanbul is the biggest Turkish city, we are bound to find someone there. What do you think about that?" the entire suggestion was rounded up by me placing another pebble on the map.

Inazuma who had been listening attentively so far nodded energetically. "It's a good plan desu and it gets us a bit closer to Japan so I'm happy with it."

"Then we are settled!" With the planning done, I folded up the map and placed it one of the pockets on my dress. We approached the edge of the pier and with one jump in the water later, the first step of our journey had begun.


	2. Discoveries and Disappointments

AN: Not quite happy with the final product, but here it goes. Will probably be editing some parts of it in the future.

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Gliding on water was an unsettling experience as my brain was refusing to get on the same page as my physics defying body. Although I was a ship which meant that technically I was following the laws of physics. Yet the sight of my human body skidding on water… ugh. The fact that not even an inch of my feet would drop below the surface was driving the rational part of me up the wall. Let's try rocking around… nope, still stable. How about a jump? My feet left the water for a split of a second before landing back on the solid surface. Feet were still dry. Can I jump over torped-

Holly fuck, you want to rupture my eardrums?!

Alright, I won't do it again! Sheesh…

That was my Captain screaming at me to stop rocking the boat pointlessly. The ringing still wasn't gone. Was this what tinnitus feels like?

Basically what I've been doing was trying out what this shipgirl thing was and testing out the boundaries of my abilities. Sure, jumping around was scraping the barrel of 'testing' but anything would do to stave off boredom. I would sell my boiler or two for a music player or a book.

Oh shut it, this is my body and I can sell it for whatever I want! Complaining 'bout everything…

Back to experimenting, how about if I try unsummoning my rigging? Before I had finished my thought the world turned on its head and I was suddenly a foot below the surface and sinking like a brick. My lungs were rapidly filling with water. Hearing an alarm calling for all hands to man the stations, a wave of panic surged through me as I flailed under water, desperately trying to find which way was up. Somehow, I had managed to orient myself and surged to the surface. Once there, I spat out what felt like a gallon of water followed by almost coughing out a lung.

"Dragon!? Dragon!? Are you okay?!" I could hear Inazuma shouting in the distance.

"Yeah… just," I weaved weakly. "Give me… a minute." I summoned my rigging which gently refloated me fully up to surface. There I laid motionlessly like a fresh roadkill on a highway.

"What happened desu?" she questioned. "Here, let me help you up."

Oh Inazuma, I don't deserve you.

"Just me being stupid," I answered. "Thanks for the help," was my shaky replay while trying to stand up with the help of the other destroyer.

"I think…" I started, still coughing weakly, "we can continue."

"If you say so desu." She didn't look convinced. "Don't be afraid to tell me if you are tired."

I waved off her concerns and we continued on our way.

My little stunt wasn't without consequences as a damage report materialized in my head. The sum of things, two flooded boilers, a damaged engine and a bunch of grumpy engineers. After that I turned off my internal comms to the crew as the Captain and the now awake XO were royally pissed and I was fond of keeping my hearing. They can chew me in a couple of hours. Yeah, good decision.

Seriously, boredom sucks!

Now I understand why shipgirls were always up to crazy shenanigans. you can't fight this madness. Thank God we were only a few hours away from Istanbul, if my calculations were correct of course. Somehow, I had found something to occupy myself for most of the journey. Otherwise I bet I would have gone bonkers. Maybe this is how Abyssal were created? Ships gone mad from boredom? Speaking of which, they were suspiciously absent. I remember the first few hours of our trip twitching at every little thing which in turn was unnerving Inazuma who kept asking me why was I in full combat mode all the time. Naturally I couldn't just tell her that there were these crazy corrupted ships that wanted to kill everyone so I just muttered something about the Sevastopol port and continued with my paranoid vigil.

Thankfully for the both of us, I managed to relax after a couple of hours and actually noticed how beautiful the night was. Have you ever seen the night sky when there were no city lights around? Let me tell you it's fucking beautiful. It's fascinating how much color there is. And the stars… oh the stars, they were dotting the sky in thousands. For a city kid who has only seen something like this maybe once or twice, it was breathtaking. I even managed to badger the XO to show me some of constellations. The little guy had climbed up on my rigging and spent a few hours explaining me navigation by stars and I sucked up every bit of it. Once dawn hit, I was sad the see the magic of the night slowly fade away. Kinda feel bad for smashing myself up now. I should probably apologize. But later! Definitely later.

Starting any kind of talk was difficult as Inazuma wasn't a big conversationalist and I kept questioning myself on how to start a conversation or what to talk about. It's not like you could talk about the latest movies with a recently awoken warship. There was the war and her service history but that felt way too personal and I didn't want to trigger any bad memories. Ughh, here I had a living piece of history sailing close by and I was being an awkward mess. Christ… Somehow, I bumbled my way onto the theme of languages and both of us had agreed that it would be prudent to learn each other's language. Let me tell you, Japanese sucks. Or maybe I sucked at Japanese and the language was totally fine. Anyways, I couldn't make head from tails and basically forgot the majority of everything by the end of the impromptu lesson. Despite that, some small nuggets of newfound knowledge remained so I claimed it a victory. Rome wasn't built in a day and all. On the other hand, Inazuma had taken to English like a duck to water and I struggled to act like an adult and not be envious at the stunning display of rapid learning.

The whole back and forth had taken the bigger part of the morning before I called it quits as my brain had started giving up on understanding moon talk. Not wanting to leave my thoughts alone and free to wander towards questions about home or other existential issues, I had decided that it would probably be good to figure out this ship part of the whole shipgirl thing. As one famous and often quoted dude said, knowing yourself was half the battle, and I planned on winning any of the battles we might find ourselves in.

I had already figured I was some kind of a destroyer and that suited me just fine. Sure, I would have liked it a bit more if I were a cruiser, but no point in complaining now. Definitely beat being a battleship or a carrier. It's all fine and dandy before bombs start falling on you first because you are the biggest guy on the block. Still, the main question that bothered me was what kind of a destroyer I was. That was a problem in itself as I couldn't figure out where to start untangling the messy set of contradictions that made me, well, ME. First of all, I was kinda tall, for a destroyer. Comparing myself to Inazuma, I was no aircraft carrier, but I was at least a head and a half on taller than her. I do hope Abyssals don't mistake me for a light-ish cruiser as my armament was a bit anemic for that role. One hundred percent didn't feel like one.

Speaking of which, all of my turrets were ridiculously heavy. I mean seriously, who the hell puts a five and a half inch gun, according to my gunners, on a freaking destroyer?! I'm cool with more dakka an all, but within reason. The whole setup felt like someone had strapped weights on my arms! To say all of them expect turret number four which for some reason was different from the others. I was not sure how much would that impact my gunnery overall. My running theory was that turret No. 4 would be mostly useless in naval engagements. The two pom-poms mounted on the sides helped somewhat with the whole identifying spiel, giving me the feel that British had kidnapped me in my past life, started a refit, and gave up after two hours of work. Lazy bastards! If you are giving me a new turret, at least you could have placed some kind of fire control there! Then again, maybe it wasn't them as there were a couple of Oerlikons dotting my rigging. What the hell, was I some kind of hand me down ship?!

Fortunately, whoever it was, they had installed a radar. Or maybe I was just giving them too much credit and I had it from the start. Anyways, I was quite happy about it for the whole ten seconds I had used it after which I got a head splitting headache and the entire experience got ruined. My brain definitely didn't like the whole sixth sense, seeing things by somehow hearing them. Hopefully it will be a temporary setback and I will get used to It otherwise my radar set was just an expensive and delicate migraine inducer.

Despite all of it, there was one thing that looked like it had no drawbacks and it completely improved my mood. I was fast. I was so stupendously fast that it was bordering on ridiculous. The rush of wind in my hair tickled the internal adrenaline junkie resting inside of me in all the right places. The discovery started with me wanting to stretch my legs a bit and a few minutes later I was running forty knots without even realizing it. Never thought running, or was it sailing now, would feel so liberating. Just as I was preparing to push myself to the max, feeling I could squeeze a few more knots, I got broken out of my trance by distant shouts. It turned out that the distance between me and Inazuma got quite sizable and I had to cut the engines to let the poor and now panicked girl catch up. Was she thinking I was going to leave her? No matter, was bad move.

Yeah, I am a bad person, I know…

Still, what to do?

I glanced down at my hip. Yep, that's a sword. Picking up the sharp object, I started examining it, throwing a few experimental swings. It felt surprisingly balanced. Not that I knew what I was doing. Welp, hopefully it would keep my attention for a good amount of time. Istanbul couldn't come sooner…

* * *

I never thought something could look so horrifying and yet so disappointing. As we slowly glided through the Bosporus strait, a sense of almost morbid curiosity overtook me as I observed the once great city bathed in the last wisps of dying light. It was the only thing keeping the bile of dread from rising up and suffocating me because Istanbul, I shuddered again, Istanbul was a husk. The great highways in the sky, connecting the two old continents were no more. Just ruins that surrounded them remained, stretching endlessly into the distance.

Every second of seeing this… this hellscape made me want to curl up on the spot and break down. Meanwhile my accursed rational side started adding up the numbers again. Several dozen here, a few hundred there, couple of thousand on that block. I shook my head violently.

Stop, for God's sake, stop! Stop! There were splotches on my cheeks now.

I felt a tug on my sleeve. "Here Dragon, it is okay to cry."

Wha- damn kid. Didn't expect you to be the stronger one. I took the offered piece of cloth with a shaky hand and began wiping my face.

"Thanks, Inazuma," I attempted to give her a reassuring smile but I feel it never quite reached my eyes.

Returning back the now stained handkerchief, I finally noticed that she was avoiding looking at the devastation around us, preferring to pointedly stare at the calm surface in front of her. Kid…

"Hey, Inazuma, take my hand." I offered her my outstretched palm.

She remained silent, but the shaken yet grateful look she gave me would follow me for the rest of my days. It was as if I had given a lifeline to a drowning person, desperately clinging to a piece of flotsam. And as a surprisingly cold hand clasped mine, a sense of profound shame washed over me. In an instant, everything was forgotten, the city, the deaths, this broken reality… me. Only the sight of this little girl, trying and struggling to be bigger and stronger than she should ever need to, remained. Perhaps her earlier actions clouded my judgment of her because this was the first time I truly saw the girl behind the ship and she looked to be hanging by a thread.

You idiot. You massive, colossal idiot.

As shame was slowly turning to disgust, I closed my eyes and took a deep and steadying breath. "Be strong man, at least for her," I whispered to myself, cleared my head and devoted my full attention to the battered soul next to me.

"Inazuma," I squeezed her delicate hand a bit tighter. "Sweetie please, can you look at me?"

"Desu?" As she turned towards me, once again I had to fight myself to keep composure.

I knelt down on my knees to be more on level with her. Clasping both of her hands I asked, "Inazuma, do you…" I didn't even have an idea what to say but I knew I had to do something to jolt her. "Do you know what it means to be human?"

I poked her in the chest when I got no response. "This," keeping silent for emphasis. "When this thing is telling you to laugh, you should laugh. But if it is telling you to cry." I left the sentence hang. "I know you are trying to be strong, maybe for the both of us, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Yet I see you silent and trembling like a leaf on the wind. If you need to cry, let it go. I will be here for you."

Moments later, her fragile composure broke down. Inazuma grabbed me in a tight hug and started sobbing.

"I… I am so… afraid, Dragon" Inazuma somehow edged through her cries. "Why is… why all of this? Wha-"

"Shhhh," I hugged her a bit tighter, my uniform becoming wet with tears as I gently rocked her. "Don't think about it. Shhhh, let it all go."

Shock, confusion and disbelief were all mixing together into a powerful cocktail of misery and despair that sapped our spirits. While we stayed there, me out of my wits on how to console the other destroyer, everything felt like being in a tunnel with no end in sight. We were expecting something in Istanbul, but not this. The whole thing was soul crushing.

They say that one of hardest things was to rise up and make the next step. Right now, it looked downright impossible. My legs were heavier than lead and all I wanted at that moment was to go home. However, there was a little girl that needed me and I promised myself and her that I would see us through. Perhaps these were the moments that the gave people that ability to tap into the hidden reserve, that magical well made of willpower that could push you through the worst of things.

As gently as possible, I disentangled myself from the embrace, rising up somewhat unsteadily while checking on my companion. "Are you feeling better?"

"A bit," Inazuma answered, rubbing her puffy cheeks.

I helped her up. "Do you think you are ready to go?"

"I think so, desu."

"Come on then, I promised you we would make it to Japan and for that w-" by accident, or maybe fate, a tiny glow appeared in my vision which completely derailed my flow of thoughts.

Seeing me freeze, Inazuma, almost fearfuly, tried to get my attention. "Dragon?"

I pointed at the distant piece of shoreline. "Do you see that? Is that?"

"Light!" she shouted with a bounce in her voice. "Dragon that is fire! And I see someone!" In an instant the gloom was gone as the sight breathed a new dose of life into the smaller destroyer.

"You see someone?!" My heart doubled its pace as I processed the information. I said silent prayer to the Heavens, being immensely thankful for a sudden distraction. As I strained my eyes, struggling to understand the fuzzy and murky speck, the image gave me an impression of a light that would flicker in random intervals. Nevertheless, it was hard to make the proper judgement. "I don't see them, but I will trust your words Inazuma."

"How come you don't see them?! They are right there!"

I just shrugged, edges of my mouth twisting slightly upwards. Her joy was becoming infectious.

"Come on Dragon!" Inazuma urged me, doing a twirl. "Faster, Dragon!"

"You do know two of my boilers are out?"

"Oh here then," she grabbed both of my arms, "I will pull you!"

"Inazuma!" I squeaked as a sudden pull nearly toppled me down, only to be answered by a melodic laugh while Inazuma continued dragging me through the strait.

Soon enough I could see them too. Three persons buzzing around what appeared to be a small campfire. My excitement rose with each second as we approached the shore. If this was any other situation I sincerely doubt I would be so giddy about meeting complete strangers. However, these people could hold answers about the messed up world I have found myself in. That could be indispensable. Right now, I would pay in solid gold for even a morsel of information. Not that I had a dime on my body.

As suspense reached the tipping point, we couldn't stop ourselves anymore from attracting the attention of unknown people scurrying on the shore."Hello! Over here!" Inazuma shouted before waving energetically.

In all the excitement, both of us forgot one thing. It didn't cross our minds how dark it had become. The night was completely obscuring our forms. Just as I was about to join in with a shout of my own, make a one additional glance at our destination, some part of me felt off about the whole thing. I stopped for just a second.

Wait, what are they-

As realization struck, air hitched in my throat. A bolt of fear thundered through my body followed by an adrenaline rush heightening my senses. Finally I could hear the rough and somewhat panicked voices coming from the shore. The commotion got broken by a staccato of noise echoing across the area. In an instant, I was hugging the water. If a rational part of me was holding the reigns of my mind, I most likely would have ignored the gunfire. But I still believed, and ran on the fact, that I was much more human than ship. And humans ran on instincts, as much as we wanted to deny that at times. Right in this moment, that instinct, maybe born out of pure reflex, luck, or honed by watching way too many war movies, screamed to me to hit the deck. So I did.

Spending a few precious seconds lying on the mirror like surface, pointlessly covering my head with my arms, as if they would somehow stop a bullet, I completely spaced out from fear. The first thing I registered after getting out of imminent shock were Inazuma's shouts.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! Please, come back!"

What!? Did I hear that wrong or was she seriously apologizing for getting shot at?!

While the incredulity of her words still echoed through my mind, I shot off like a coiled snake. Showing in the process way more dexterity than I believed possible. All just to grab her hand and stop her from rushing after the gunmen.

"Inazuma, are you crazy?! They just shot at us!"

"But they didn't mean to, I scared them!" Inazuma retorted, an edge of desperation in her voice as she tried to struggle out of my grip.

They didn't- I couldn't believe what I was hearing!

"Inazuma, they could have kil-" I stopped myself before finishing the thought before realizing once again that we were shipgirls and as such probably gave zero fucks about small arms fire. One mental slap later and I reformulated myself. "I mean, they are dangerous! Why are you so hell bent on finding them?!"

"Because…", Inazuma twiddled her fingers, avoiding to look me directly in the eyes. "Because you said we needed to find someone and we finally did and I scared them off and now it is all my fault!" Her words were becoming ever so faster. In the end I barely managed to understand what she had said. "Can we go find them, please! I will apologize, desu!"

Oh no, puppy eyes. Whatever stony facade I managed to put crumbled in seconds. Man, if I become a parent at any point… yeah, not good.

"Fiiine…" I drawled out. "Hold it!" Yanking her by the arm before she could run off on her own. "Thirty minutes. That's all we'll spend. And we will do it slowly and together."

"But-"

"No buts Missy!" I placed both of my hands on hips, leaning forward to create the stereotypical 'enough with your crap' pose that parents or elder siblings tended to strike.

She stuck out her tongue before pouting at me "Fine, desu." Rolling my eyes at the antics, I motioned for us to start moving. I was conflicted with the made decision. On one hand, any kind of information would be amazing. On the other, chasing unknown gunmen through unfamiliar terrain in the dark was almost a Darwin award level of smart moves. Emphasis on the almost because if we weren't part ship then it would definitely be award level material. Soon enough it became evident we wouldn't be finding anyone, just earning scruffs and cuts during the search in pitch blackness. Lastly, I decided to call it quits after scraping my knees for the third time. Whoever they were, we weren't going to find them in this wreck of a city.

We decided to return to the camp. There was still a tiny fire going which soon became my priority to tend to and make sure it wouldn't die out. Inazuma plopped down on a nearby clearing close to the fire looking downright dejected. I knew I had to do something to get her mind off the things. After making sure the fire won't die for the foreseeable time I took stock of the area. Luckily, the previous occupants left a few fresh catches including a collapsible fishing rod. It drove home the image that they were terrified and wanted to leave the place as soon as possible. They probably won't be coming back. Despite that, the items gave me an idea.

"Hey Inzuma," I motioned for my companion. "Come over here for a second."

I picked up one of the fishes. "Ever ate fish?"

She gave me a puzzled look. "No, desu. But I remember my crew eating it often. Is it good? Can we eat it?"

I chuckled at the questions. "Of course we can eat it, it's delicious! I mean, that's what I heard too," I corrected myself quickly. It would be awkward to explain how I knew what fish tasted.

"Want to help me prepare it?"

"You know how?" Inazuma asked with a bit of surprise, her brows shooting upwards.

"Yes, I've seen it before, but I could always use some help."

"But shouldn't we, you know, leave it? It is not ours, desu."

I shook my head. A mirthless chuckle escaping me. Kid, you have a hearth of gold and I don't like trampling over it, but this world isn't looking like the place for minor moralities."Inazuma, they won't be coming back. So, what do you say?" I offered again, slimy fish still in my hand.

She looked unsure about it, wringing her fingers. "But I… I don't know what to do."

"No worries, I will show you. Come over" I started preparing our meal, patiently explaining the steps to Inazuma.

Pro tip, don't try to gut a fish with oversized utensils. Or cavalry sabers. In fact, don't do it without a proper piece of equipment. Man, what would I give for a Swiss army knife right now. At least two more boilers. Anyways, all the fishes stayed in one piece somehow, but let's just say I made a mess of things. What surprised me though was how nonchalant Inazuma was about the whole thing. Didn't even give a twitch to me ripping out the guts. Miles better than when my little squirmy ass had seen it for the first time.

An hour later we were done with the meal. We were not quite stuffed but any hunger was sated at least. The lack of olive oil, a piece of rosemary and garlic made everything a bit bland yet those were luxuries we could go without. Despite that, I called it a success. A hot meal could do wonders for one's morale which was evident by Inazuma happily dozing off close to the campfire. The little distraction doing wonders to keep her mind off of things. Mine though wouldn't leave me alone now that the things quieted down. One thing kept returning to me and no matter how I turned the things around, it always arrived at the same thing. Abyssals.

Those fuckers were to blame for everything, I was sure of it now. Why else would those dudes be so deathly afraid of something coming from the water?!

I refused to acknowledge that shipgirls could cause terror or destruction on a level that we had seen by now. Also, I still had enough hope in humanity as a whole not to be stupid enough to destroy ourselves. Leaving the aforementioned out of the equation meant that only those bastards remained. Fuck... Looking at my surroundings for the umpteenth time, images of Sevastopol were once again overlapping with the current ones. Chills ran through me and I forced myself to focus on the fire in front of me.

Could this mean, I ran a hand through my hair, could it mean the Abyssals... won?

No, no, it can't be! I-

Then again…

But how?

Ughhh! This is making my head hurt!

I throw a rock in frustration which smashed against a nearby wall. Better not to think about it.

Five minutes later I was running the same scenario, asking myself questions I couldn't fathom the answers to. The motions repeating deep into the night. I remember falling asleep thinking of home and my family. Dreams did not claim me before tears did.

* * *

A shrill cry woke me up.

In an instant I was on my feet. Moments later rushing over to Inazuma. She was pale as a sheet. Her eyes, not quite there, were frantically looking for something.

"Inazuma! What's happening?! I skidded over, raising a cloud of dust and pebbles in the process.

"She is coming! She will get me!"

What the? "Inazuma!" I gently shook her by the shoulders. "Snap out of it!"

Her eyes slowly regained focus, breathing no longer so ragged.

"You were asleep. It was just a dream." I tried reassuring her.

"Dragon it was horrible! There was something, a shadow chasing me! She talked to me!" Inazuma explained in a frantic voice.

"You are safe now, forget about it. I will protect you."

"You will, desu?"

"Yes, don't you worry. Now, back to sleep. You don't want to be tired tomorrow, yes?"

"Can you-" she sounded a bit hesitant. "Can you stay here?"

I gave her a smile and ruffled her hair. "Yes, I can. I will be here."

"Thank you, Dragon." With that, she turned on her side and soon enough fell asleep. Me on the other hand continued to hold vigil by her side until the morning. Battling nightmares that didn't stay chained in your dreams.

The following day was miserable as neither of us felt rested while the rain kept pouring throughout the day and long into the night. Not including our morning language session, which none of us felt quite enthused about, the day was completely uneventful We spent it mostly in silence. Only excitement during the day was provided by me catching a fish or two with a pole I had 'borrowed' in Istanbul. We spent the night on one of the island located somewhere in the Aegean Sea. The day after that though, somewhere close to Crete, trouble finally found us.

Inazuma was the one who broke the silence, right hand on her brow as she peered into the distance "Dragon, I think I see smoke."

Immediately, I was on alert. My hearth beating in an increased pace. "Where?"

"Bearing is zero one three seven, desu.

After consulting with my inner compass, I shifted my attention to see, nothing. Confused and struggling to find anything except the sea and the murky sky on the horizon, I asked. "Are you sure Inazuma? I'm not seeing anything."

"I'm sure, desu. There are three, no four smoke trails." she corrected herself.

For a second I felt a pang of envy for not having optics as good as hers before dismissing the distracting thoughts. "Okay, I believe you. Keep a track of them and notify me if anything changes. Oh, and ready your weapons. Just in case." I was having a bad feeling about this. The paranoid side of me surging forth.

It was Inazuma's turn to feel confused, tilting her head with a puzzled look. "Weapons? Why desu?" she questioned before offering a suggestion, "Shouldn't we go towards them? Maybe they can help us?"

"Please Inazuma, just humor me for a moment," I answered, cutting away any kind of discussion that could form. Curbing her optimism did leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. Was I being too cynical or paranoid?

"Okay, Dragon," she answered curtly, returning back to her observations. Meanwhile I sounded the general quarters alarm, my crew rushing to their stations. Positions were manned, ammo was readied and I could feel, both them and myself take a nervous breath of anticipation. Now all I could do was wait and hope for the shoe not to drop. A thin layer of cold, sticky sweat covered my palms which I unsuccessfully tried to get rid of by periodically rubbing hands into my uniform. Damn, I hatted that feeling of helplessness. When you knew something was going to happen and there was no way to avoid it. Moments like this made me understand why some people took to smoking. If it really was that nerve calming I could understand the temptation.

"They have spotted us," Inazuma intoned. "I think they are moving towards us."

"Mhmmm, keep watching them."

Not knowing what was sailing miles away from us was making me increasingly more nervous. I wanted to pace around, run, do something. Anything but stare at distance! Ugh, I was like a caged animal. Agonizingly slow minutes passed and soon enough I could also see the smoke and faint contours of something on the horizon. Seems like the distance between us was closing.

In contrast to me, Inazuma was looking calm and composed. Most likely not expecting anything bad to happen. I mean why should she? She doesn't know anything about Abyssals, the murderous predators that were probably stalking the seas. Damn, I should have told her about them! Although, would she have even believed me?

Questioning of my decision came to a sudden end, broken by Inazuma who now sounded way less composed. "D-D-Dragon, w-what are t-those?"

Finally, I saw them too, in all their horrifying glory. Pale, disfigured and downright wrong to look at, with pieces of seaweed and barnacles sticking to them, four Abyssals were closing in. Three looked like mindless beasts. Some bizarre mixture of a whale and modern technology with huge teeth and barrels sticking out everywhere. However, it was the fourth one that was downright chilling to look at. At the first look, you could almost mistake it for a human due to its appearance. Only a second, more detailed, look would show you a multitude of small, subtle differences which showed its true nature. I could swear, even from this distance, there was murder and madness glinting in its eyes.

"Enemies," I replied. "I hope you are ready Inazuma as you will be leading the show." I pushed the decision making into her lap, not trusting myself with it.

"M-me?" her eyes buldged out to comical levels.

"Yes, you. I don't have any memories," I tapped the side of head a few times for emphasis, "I'm not sure if I know how to lead us." A lie, but a necessary one because in my opinion, it was better for someone with actual combat experience to lead.

"B-but I don't know how. And I-I was sunk in combat!" Inazuma protested.

"And who says I wasn't!?" I countered, "That doesn't matter. Come on, I believe in you Inazuma, you can do it." I attempted reassuring her while hiding the turmoil that raged inside of me.

"O-okay, desu," she answered shakily before taking a moment to collect herself. Meanwhile throwing a glance or two at the advancing Abyssals. Once ready, she issued her first orders. "I will take the lead position. Follow my maneuvers." She gauged the distance once more. "Ready the torpedoes Dragon."

"Torpedoes?" I asked with a frown.

"You don't want to have them on deck when shells are falling, desu," she calmly explained.

Oh, shit! She's right and I completely forgot about it!

Immediately I wanted to get rid of the things. "See, I forgot about that. That's why you are in charge." She just gave a chuckle accompanied with slight head shaking. What, I'm new at this!

Eyeballing the distance and speed, I adjusted my torpedo mounts. Didn't think they would hit anything, but you never knew. Inazuma's command to fire came. There was a slight shudder as nine torpedoes left the mounts plastered on my legs. They joined their bigger cousins on a hopefully explosive journey.

No longer being a floating powder keg made some small weight lift off my shoulders. The feeling didn't last long as an explosive flash followed by a billow of black smoke marked the start of the gun engagement. For several moments I fully froze. With my mouth hanging open I tried to trace the trail of the volley. Never have I thought I would be the witness to the piercing and wailing sound of shells falling. I shut my eyes tight as the noise intensified, praying they wouldn't hit. The shells landed with a splash, far away from us and I found my breath again. A brief respite before the cycle would repeat. The moment giving me just enough clarity of mind to prepare an answer of my own. Angling myself, I outstretched my arms. The movements weren't steady but my gunners acquired the targeting solutions. Four barrels were ready to spew death. Inazuma fired first, followed by me moments later.

The blast shook me to the core, temporarily making me deaf. If this wasn't a life or death situation, the feeling of overwhelming power that momentarily coursed through me would be one of the most awesome things I had ever felt. However, due to circumstances it was nothing but an afterthought as I observed with slight desperation our volley arc through the cloudy sky. It fell short. I knew it would be miraculous for the first salvo to hit anything but that didn't stop me for feeling a pang of disappointment. The biggest Abyssal fired again before the smaller ones rushed forward in a burst of speed, likely trying to bring their smaller guns to bear.

"Switch targets to lead elements," Inazuma ordered, my aim adjusted. Their second volley landed moments later, this time noticeably closer to us. Something I tried to ignore, keeping my arms from shaking as I readied the second salvo. We exchanged volleys again. Still no hits. Naval combat was proving to be both a test of one's skill and nerves with mine becoming rapidly more frayed as shell splashes got closer. Definitely was not helping my aim.

A brief moment of invigoration came as one of Inazuma's shells landed point blank on a smaller Abyssal. The impact staggered it, forcing it to pull to the rear of their formation while in turn making me let out a whoop of joy. Unfortunately, the brief moment was spoiled by a spray of water showering me from all sides. My uniform was drenched. While I gathered my bearings, a bolt of pure terror struck me as I realized what had happened. I got straddled. Death now hovered over my head.

I had only one chance left to get myself away from the bottomless pit that opened before me. Reaching out for the one trump card I had, I powered up my radar, hoping it would help my aim. A buzzing sound soon reached my ears and I could feel an oppressive weight of a migraine forming in my head. Clenching my teeth to power through the pain and discomfort, I concentrated on my heightened senses. My awareness quickly filled with a slippery feel of six more ships situated around me.

Wait a minute, six ships?! What?!

I twisted myself to take into account the previously unnoticed vessel on our opposite side. Before I could shout a warning to Inazuma, the newcomer fired.

* * *

AN: Leaving off on a tiny cliffhanger, that was chapter 2. Those with more knowledge on WW2 ships might recognize which ship the SI is.

Despite me having the entire story, world-building and all the character arcs fully planned, expect updates once every two-three weeks as I'm new to writing.

Thanks everyone for reading.


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